John Chapter 1
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Introduction
The gospel of John is not included as one of the synoptic or similar Gospels. It stands out as very different. It is the last Gospel to be written, probably around 85 B.C. by the apostle John in his old age. Church tradition says that he wrote this to fill in the gaps that he thought needing filling in order to complete the other 3 Gospels and to compliment them as well. The whole thrust of the message of John is given very clearly by John himself in :-
‘But these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in His name’
John pulls no punches here, his Gospel is written for the purpose of converting people to Christianity. This make this Gospel very unique because although it could be considered a historical document, that was not its purpose. God uses this Gospel to convert people which makes it very powerful.
John never identifies himself in the Gospel, so when there is mention of John in this gospel it always refers to John the Baptist. Oddly enough it is the only Gospel who talks about ‘the disciple who Jesus loved’. John is clearly talking about himself here but he is not singling himself out as getting more love from Jesus than the other disciples, it is rather that he recognised that Jesus loved him and basked in that love.
John has no Christmas narrative in it neither does it have any parables in it. There are accounts about Jesus in John but many of them are not told in the other Gospels. These and other things in the Gospel make it unique from the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.
Deity of Christ
At the start of this passage Jesus is identified as the Word. John has select the use of this term carefully. Many Christian organisations use this term in it’s Greek for which is ‘Logos’. The term was used in Genesis for God and so the Jews would be very familiar with the meaning of it. The Greeks would have understood this term from their Greek philosophy as meaning ‘divine reason’, ‘the mind’ or ‘wisdom’. John used this term therefore as a bridge for both groups of readers. John also wrote this Gospel in hindsight with all his life’s experience in it. He wrote it to compliment the other Gospels that had been in circulation for some time.
At the start of this passage Jesus is identified as the Word. John has select the use of this term carefully. Many Christian organisations use this term in it’s Greek for which is ‘Logos’. The term was used in Genesis for God and so the Jews would be very familiar with the meaning of it. The Greeks would have understood this term from their Greek philosophy as meaning ‘divine reason’, ‘the mind’ or ‘wisdom’. John used this term therefore as a bridge for both groups of readers.
John was emphatically stating that Jesus was there at the creation of the world. There is doubt to the reader here. If people doubt the deity of Christ then they will have difficulty explaining this passage. John goes on to state that all created things originated from Christ.
The early reformers came up with a phrase that Jesus was ‘all God and all man’. Paul re-iterates the same point but with more detail in
‘He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.’
This raises the question, that when Christ died on the cross.......shouldn’t all things have not been held together or simply been destroyed? If Christ was dead there was nothing to hold it together? However when we delve a little deeper we find that it was the man part of Jesus that died not His God part - but this is something to ponder on at home.